Duskfall

6. Crucible

The plan was too simple to really be called a plan.

Step One: Break down the door.

Step Two: Run like hell.

Step One was currently the sticking point. They'd both slept, there together on the floor, and without any pressing wounds to heal, Lia did feel that she had enough energy to attempt another change. But after the unexpected fasting, she doubted she could maintain it for very long.

But two, maybe three floors was all she needed.

Kai stood off to the side--there wasn't room for him to go far--and she didn't need to be able to see him to know that he was looking at her with concern. She ignored it. She ignored everything, concentrated, and reached deep within.

It was easier than the last time she tried, but not by much. The pain was still there and she screamed as it cut through her, whatever natural failsafe that was normally in place utterly exhausted. Her bones grew and reshaped, her muscle mass bulged, expanded, and she could feel every bit of it. But she finished the change.

She rested her hands on her knees, breathing heavily, before she stood. Her head nearly scraped the ceiling now, which made her feel better about the door. A day without being able to change and she'd felt so unbelievably small. Now she was massive. Unstoppable. Without preamble, she raised her foot, marshaled her strength, and kicked. A stab of pain shot through her heel despite the insulated soles of her boots. The door flew entirely off its hinges.

"Now you're just showing off," Kai said.

"Come on!" Lia reached for his arm in the dark and took off down the hall.

Kai hurriedly whispered directions as they went. After the crash the door made, there was probably little reason to be quiet, but it made her feel better and she assumed he felt the same. The winding serpentine corridors were identical to Lia's eyes, but she trusted Kai's ability to distinguish them. The same as they both would have to trust his ability to operate the portal machine. He'd only done it once before, but it had not been under the sort of circumstances that lent themselves to being forgotten.

They'd made it to the far end of the spire's detention area, nearer to the stairwell they so desperately needed, before they encountered anything. Kai tugged sharply on her arm, leading her through the open door into another cell as one of the Shadereavers rounded the corner ahead. They stood barely breathing, pressed against together from shoulders to belly against the wall of the cell. Lia could feel the beating of Kai's heart against her chest as he slowly tapped out a count of three with one finger against her collarbone.

At his signal, Lia burst back out into the hall and wrapped one strong arm around the Reaver's neck from behind. Its body bent grotesquely back towards her. Light flashed in Vigil's palm and briefly in his eyes as he shoved his hand directly into the darkness of the creatures hood. With one spasmodic jerk, the Reaver went limp. They shoved its body into the cell and hurried on to the staircase.

In the end, it was two floors, and Lia didn't need Kai to direct her once they exited the stairwell. The mechanical hum and flashing lights of the portal device through a wide archway were unmistakable.

They crept towards it, Lia hoping that like the one they'd killed upstairs, the other Shadereavers were moving about elsewhere in the spire. Their luck didn't hold that far. Kai chanced a brief look into the room, and raised his hand, index, middle, and ring fingers extended.

All three of the remaining Shadereavers were inside.

They'd discussed what to do if this situation arose, if they found themselves outnumbered, a superior force standing between them and the way home. Lia, stronger and less injured, would draw fire and Kai would make his way to and through the portal, no matter what. He'd been resistant, for obvious reasons, but rationality had won out. He was too vulnerable in the Nightshade, and Lia wouldn't have even known which machine was the portal device in the first place, much less how to use it.